New Delhi, June 22 : Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will take over as the President of India International Centre (IIC) on Thursday. Saran, a Life Trustee who is next in line in the inter-se seniority of Life Trustees, has been unanimously elected by the Board as the new IIC President. The President of the India International Centre is elected once in five years from among the Life Trustees following the time-honoured principle of rotation of the presidency. N.N. Vohra completed his five years presidential tenure on Wednesday. Shyam Saran is a former Foreign Secretary and has served as Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change. After leaving government service in 2010, he headed the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a prestigious think-tank focusing on economic issues (2011-2017) and was Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board under the National Security Council (2013-15). He is a member of the governing board of the Centre for Policy Research and of the Institute of Chinese Studies. His first book, 'How India Sees the World', was published in 2017. He has recently published his second book, 'How China Sees India and the World'. Shyam Saran was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 2011 for his contributions to civil service. In May 2019, he was conferred the Spring Order Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan for promoting India-Japan relations. /IANS